Elven cultivators

Anton made up his mind and got up to leave the quiet room.

He sent a message to Eleanor, then left the Tower of Nine Heavens and went to the place where the Old World Eggs were placed under the Tree of Eternity.

The egg of the old world remained quietly suspended in the vine-woven net bag as always. The grayish-white shell had more grayish-white patterns than the last time I saw it, like fine blood vessels, winding and stretching along the curve of the eggshell.

Anton extended his divine sense and entered the egg of the old world, where he could clearly feel the pulsating vitality within.

Compared to when we first obtained the Old World Egg, this vitality is much more vigorous and intense, no longer the faint, elusive state that could dissipate at any moment.

If you look closely, you can vaguely see the outline of a beast through the eggshell.

"The recovery is going well."

Anton nodded secretly.

At this rate of growth, the Old World Egg should hatch in about twenty years.

He withdrew his divine sense and then went to the place where the Heaven-Turning Seal and the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover were nurtured.

The death energy of the previous broadsword spirit had already been purified and immediately integrated into the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover to serve as a spiritual seed. He then set up an array to nurture it.

At this moment, both mystical artifacts are suspended at the center of the formation, receiving the cleansing and nourishment of the rich spiritual energy.

The mountain and river patterns on the surface of the Fantian Seal are deeper than before, and each pattern exudes a solid texture.

Anton could clearly sense the pulse of spirituality within the seal, which was already very close to the sword pellet.

It is estimated that in four or five years at most, this wisp of spirituality will be fully formed and transform into a true artifact spirit.

Even the Heaven-Turning Seal can cross that threshold and join the ranks of spiritual artifacts.

As for the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover, because it was integrated into the spiritual seed relatively late, it needs more time to nurture before it can complete its transformation.

Anton used his divine sense to check and confirmed that the fusion process was going smoothly, so he didn't linger and turned to leave.

After that, he checked the spiritual weapons he had brought back from the other dimension. Once he confirmed that the spiritual souls were developing steadily, he paid no further attention to them.

It's worth mentioning that after recovering the spirit weapon, Anton personally went to explore that alternate dimension, but unfortunately, he didn't find anything.

The spiritual weapons there had long been completely looted.

The undead monsters were also wiped out.

Moreover, after losing the death energy, the alternate dimension lost the fertile ground for the birth of undead monsters, and even lost its last bit of value.

"An alternate dimension resembling an ancient battlefield... somewhat similar to the Abyss, perhaps a spatial fragment of the Abyss?"

"The death energy has completely dissipated; no, it's very likely that it was collected by someone."

The connection between these two things immediately reminded Anton of the Ring of Annihilation.

Perhaps the Ring of Annihilation is behind all this.

Even so, Anton did not intend to investigate further.

Those lunatics act covertly, making them very difficult to catch.

As long as they don't provoke him, Anton is too lazy to deal with them.

Anyway, once the undead calamity breaks out in the future, there will be plenty of opportunities to fight those guys.

Just as Anton was lost in thought, a paper crane suddenly flew over.

He stretched out his palm, letting the paper crane fall into his hand, then unfolded on its own, returning to a flat piece of letter paper.

Eleanor's handwriting was neat and tidy, arranged in rows on the paper.

Anton's gaze swept across the rows of lines.

The letter described what had happened on the mainland during his seclusion.

Most of them are intelligence reports about the destruction or rise of certain forces.

The most important reason is that the sea tribe was attacked by the other four major forces and was the first to withdraw from the battle for the Holy Dragon Mountain Range.

"The same development as in the original history..."

Anton put down the letter, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.

In the original history, the sea people were also the first of the five major powers to withdraw from the war.

Moreover, the process was exactly as described in the intelligence reports.

This is actually not that surprising.

After all, the disadvantages of the sea creatures are obvious to the naked eye.

It's not just because the land isn't the sea creatures' home ground, but also because the Great Whirlpool Islands are far beyond the continental shelf, and are far too far from the Holy Dragon Mountains.

Even if the sea creatures eventually succeed in taking over the Holy Dragon Mountain Range, the supply line that spans half the continent could be cut off at any time.

They simply cannot control the Holy Dragon Mountains.

The high-ranking members of the Sea Clan likely foresaw this early on, which is why they took advantage of this defeat to withdraw from the battle.

Otherwise, if it was just a defeat without any serious damage, they could easily make a comeback.

In the present day, this move by the sea creatures is not honorable and has greatly damaged their reputation, but time has proven that this decision was correct.

In the subsequent Scourge, the sea creatures suffered the least impact because they preserved most of their power and were located far beyond the continental shelf.

Once the cataclysmic disaster ended, the sea race was the first to recover its strength, and in turn suppressed the other four major forces, showing a tendency to become the number one power on the continent.

It can only be said that losing first does not necessarily mean you have truly lost; the one who laughs last is the real winner.

"Judging from this, the subsequent developments shouldn't deviate too much."

Historically, after the sea creatures withdrew, the intensity of the wars increased rather than decreased.

Shortly thereafter, the Emerald Court and the Free Alliance joined forces to fight against Bloodhowl Fortress and Heart of the Mountains.

This creates a two-on-two situation.

Major powers were gradually drawn into the war, attacking each other.

The flames of war spread from the Holy Dragon Mountains to the entire continent.

By then, the Silvermoon Clan will find it difficult to remain as unscathed as it is now.

But that's for the future.

At this stage, advancing to the Nascent Soul stage is the most important thing.

With a flick of his finger, Anton turned the letter into ashes and vanished without a trace.

He then walked to the other side of the Tree of Eternity.

That was the place he had chosen to set up the Great Dream Thousand Autumns Formation.

For Anton today, the Great Dream Thousand Autumns Formation is not particularly complicated.

It is at least not as good as the Hunyuan Five Elements Grand Formation.

He completed the formation setup in just half a month.

He then immediately entered the formation, sat cross-legged at the formation's core, and injected a wisp of magical power into it.

The array patterns lit up one by one, and the silver-gray light spread along the lines in all directions, enveloping the area within a hundred meters in a soft halo.

The air began to stagnate, as if an invisible veil was slowly descending from the dome and covering his head.

Anton calmed himself and closed his eyes.

My consciousness began to sink, as if being supported by an invisible hand, slowly falling towards some bottomless abyss.

The surrounding sounds, light, and temperature were fading away rapidly, like watermarks left on the shore when the tide recedes, disappearing piece by piece.

Then, the world lit up again.

Anton looked around and found himself standing on a street.

The road surface, paved with bluestone bricks, was wet with rainwater and gleamed with a grayish light.

The houses on both sides were low and dilapidated, the wooden doors were swollen from the dampness, and dark mold was visible at the edges.

A few barks came from afar, but they were mixed with the sound of the wind and couldn't be heard clearly.

Anton looked down at his hands.

The palms are rough, the knuckles are large, and there is a thick callus on the tiger's mouth.

That's from years of holding a hoe.

Looking at his clothes, he wore a patched linen shirt, and his trousers were rolled up to his knees, revealing his mud-splattered calves. On his feet were a pair of straw sandals, worn down to just a thin sole.

He looked up and around.

On a late autumn afternoon, the sky was overcast and gray, and the wind blew in from the end of the street, carrying the acrid smell of burnt straw from the fields.

Standing in the middle of the street, Anton's mind went blank.

But soon, he remembered.

He was a farmer who lived alone in a shed outside the village, making a living by cultivating a few acres of meager land.

So he started walking and headed towards the end of the street.