Elven cultivators

In the days that followed, the strange phenomenon over the city of Taichu remained the focus of discussion throughout the eastern part of the continent.

That five-colored beam of light that stretched across the sky was simply too eye-catching.

Even from thousands of miles away, standing on the high ground at the southern foot of the Frostridge Plateau, or at the border checkpoint of the Iron Hill Kingdom, one can see that sliver of light rising from the horizon, spreading out in layers, like the aurora borealis spreading out in the twilight for half the night.

Countless forces are inquiring about the cause of the strange phenomenon that day.

Caravans, mercenaries, scouts, and diplomatic messengers—all sorts of people gathered at the border of the Primordial Spirit Realm like fish smelling blood, trying to gather intelligence.

However, the Silvermoon Clan kept this matter under tight control, like an iron barrel.

No matter how much outsiders tried to inquire, they couldn't get any useful information.

However, the more the lockdown was imposed, the more rampant the speculation from the outside world became.

Rumors spread like wildfire, with various versions circulating in taverns, markets, and around campfires.

Some people confidently asserted that it was the Silver Moon Clan setting up some kind of super-large defensive array, and that the pillar of light was the afterglow leaked when the array was activated.

Some speculate that a powerful enemy has invaded the Primordial Spirit Realm, and that the five-colored radiance is the aftershock of the fierce battle between the Fallen Dragon Sword Saint and the invaders.

These claims were widely circulated, but none of them could be supported by any solid evidence, and after a period of commotion, they gradually faded away.

Another explanation, however, has gradually been accepted by most people after repeated deliberation and verification from multiple sources.

They believed that the commotion that day was actually a celestial phenomenon caused by the advancement of the Fallen Dragon Sword Saint to the Saint realm.

As is widely known, when a Golden Peak breaks through to the Legendary rank, it will trigger fluctuations in the laws, thus creating observable anomalies within a certain range.

The phenomena of a legendary ascension to sainthood are far more magnificent, with a coverage area and duration far exceeding those of the former.

Although the strange phenomenon that occurred above the Primordial City that day seemed exaggerated even among saints, it was the most reasonable explanation compared to other unfounded rumors.

After all, the Silver Moon Clan Chief had just killed a Saint not long ago.

At the time, many people speculated that he was close to a breakthrough.

Now, his ascension to sainthood is a natural progression.

That makes perfect sense.

As the days went by, the Silvermoon Clan never came forward to deny the rumor, which only deepened the outside world's belief in it.

As a result, the news of Anton's ascension to sainthood quickly spread from the eastern part of the continent to other regions.

The Silvermoon Clan had already gained fame in recent years due to its military achievements and trade, and this incident has further solidified its reputation as a first-rate power.

……

Primordial City, Nine-Tiered Tower.

The Tianyuan Hall was completely quiet.

Eleanor leaned back in her chair, holding a recently closed dossier in her hand, a rare look of relaxation in her eyes.

Sunlight streamed in through the high window, turning the dust particles in the air into fine gold dust, and also illuminating the documents spread out on the table.

As Flora entered the palace carrying a new stack of documents, she saw Eleanor's almost carefree appearance, and a smile involuntarily crept onto her lips.

She knew why Lady Eleanor was in a good mood.

Lady Eleanor has maintained this appearance ever since her teacher achieved Nascent Soul stage.

However, she could understand the latter's feelings.

After all, a teacher achieving Nascent Soul stage is undoubtedly a tremendous benefit to the clan.

Noticing Flora's arrival, Eleanor put down the file and looked up at the doorway: "What are you doing standing there? Come in."

Flora responded and stepped into the hall.

She placed the documents in her hand on the table, first reporting on a few routine matters, before bringing up the training progress of the Lingyun Flying Boat operators.

"All trainees have passed the assessment and are now undergoing final integration drills. It is expected that they will be officially incorporated into the fleet in three months, at which time our manpower will be sufficient to meet the full-strength operation needs of 100 Lingyun Flying Ships."

"Well done." Eleanor nodded in satisfaction.

The battle against the Steelfur tribe has proven the effectiveness of airdrop blitzkrieg tactics in actual combat.

Since then, the clan has placed increasing importance on large flying magical artifacts.

After several internal discussions, the formation of a large-scale air fleet was formally incorporated into the core planning of the military strategy.

This plan also received Anton's full support.

However, this plan has two difficulties.

First of all, the crafting process for large flying magical artifacts is extremely complicated, and in the past only two Golden Core cultivators, Anton and Eleanor, were capable of this task.

Both of them had their own important tasks to attend to, and they couldn't spare much time throughout the year to specialize in crafting flying boats.

Therefore, the formation of the fleet was never considered fast.

However, with Anton's advancement to the Nascent Soul stage, this problem has now been resolved.

Nascent Soul cultivators can refine magic weapon-grade and profound weapon-grade flying boats with far greater efficiency than those in the Golden Core stage.

What used to take more than half a year to forge a single Lingyun Flying Boat can now be completed by a Nascent Soul cultivator in less than a month.

As long as the materials are available, more than a dozen ships can be produced in a year.

If it weren't for the subsequent maintenance costs and personnel rotation burden, the clan would have formed more than just two fleets.

The second challenge is manpower.

Previously, the Lingyun Flying Boat could only be controlled by disciples of Taichu City who followed the Qi Path.

Although the number of disciples in Taichu City has been growing rapidly, the number is ultimately limited.

If most of the manpower is devoted to the operation of the airship, other aspects of operation will inevitably be stretched thin.

With this in mind, Anton began to improve the control array of the Lingyun Flying Boat, so that most of the non-core facilities could be driven by sensing spirit stones, no longer requiring disciples to personally infuse spiritual energy.

In this way, a flying boat only needs three to four Qi Dao disciples to be in charge of the core control position, and the rest of the operators can be recruited and trained from vassal races and ordinary elves.

This greatly reduced the dependence of the Lingyun Flying Boat on the disciples of Taichu City.

After solving these two difficulties, the clan's progress in building its fleet accelerated significantly.

Once the personnel are in place and the required number of Lingyun Flying Boats are produced, two fleets can be assembled immediately.

Each fleet is equipped with fifty Flying Cloud Ships, plus a Flying Radiance Tower as its flagship.

After reporting on the formation of the fleet, Flor took out a new document and placed it in front of Eleanor.

"All the Dao soldiers in the Dao Soldier Legion have completed the core replacement, changing their original magic stone cores to spirit stone cores, which has increased their overall combat power by about 20% to 30%."

Eleanor took the document and flipped through it, her gaze slowly sweeping over the data.

After the Spirit Stone Core was put into use, the efficiency of the entire Dao Soldier system has been steadily increasing.

In addition, the refining method based on spirit stones also has varying degrees of positive feedback on the activation efficiency of talismans, the purity of elixir extraction, and the speed of spiritual power conduction of magical treasures.

Those rune circuits that previously required repeated adjustments to barely stabilize now run much more smoothly after being replaced with spirit stone-driven cores.

Ultimately, artificially refined sensing stones are merely substitutes.

The combination of natural spiritual stones and the myriad arts of cultivating immortality is the true harmony.

The formation of the stone vein is far more than just a new energy channel; it represents a complete transformation from the ground up.

"What about the Underworld Trench?" Eleanor asked casually. "Have this year's materials been submitted yet?"

"It has already been handed over," Flora replied. "The message from the garrison disciples says that the dragons are behaving themselves and have not made any unusual moves."

In order to monitor the captive dragons, the clan set up a permanent surveillance post on the Eternal Night Isles, sending disciples from the Primordial City on rotation year-round to closely observe the dragons' movements.

To ensure absolute safety, Anton also crafted two additional guardian deities in addition to the original twelve, specifically to guard the surveillance points and prevent the dragons from harboring any disloyal intentions.

With the Dragon Court destroyed, the surviving dragons are an invaluable strategic resource for the clans.

If properly cared for, their scales, blood, bones, and dragon breath essence can continuously supply the clan with high-grade materials, which is a long-term benefit.

In particular, the bloodline of the dragon race has made significant contributions to the improvement and breeding of the clan's spirit beasts over the years.

Hundreds of sub-dragons have now been bred in the clan's animal garden.

Based on the bloodlines of these mythical beasts, the clan developed many pills similar to the Dragon Essence Pill.

"We must keep a close watch on those dragons and never let them escape the Nether Trench and come into contact with the outside world," Eleanor said calmly.

Flora solemnly agreed, and then added, "The Nine Nether City Domain just reported that they have discovered traces of a new Dark Elf clan, and Lord Roman is currently leading a search party."

"...Roman is only so decisive in matters like this." Eleanor chuckled and shook her head, then her expression hardened. "Send more people. We must find out the truth."

According to the dark elves of Vion City, there is a strong possibility that a powerful dark elf force related to the Dark Spider Mother exists near the Nine Nether City.

If it really is the other party, then we must treat this matter with caution.

After finishing their business, Eleanor glanced at Flora and softened her tone: "It's good to work hard, but don't neglect your cultivation. Delegate less important tasks to your subordinates. As cultivators, cultivation is the foundation for us."

"I understand, Lady Eleanor." Flora nodded.

Among Anton's earliest disciples, Flora's three spiritual roots were second only to Ryan, and better than Lucius and Mia.

However, because assisting with affairs took up a lot of time, her cultivation progress actually fell behind.

He had just broken through to the seventh level of Foundation Establishment not long ago.

In contrast, Ryan had already reached the peak of Foundation Establishment and was preparing to condense his Golden Core.

Lucius has already reached the eighth level of Foundation Establishment, and his combat strength far surpasses hers.

Even Mia, whose aptitude was relatively inferior, had caught up with her in cultivation.

Although Flora was mild-mannered and not competitive, she couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency as the gap between them gradually widened.

Just as Flora was lost in thought, a paper crane fluttered its wings and flew in from the high window, circled once in the air, and landed lightly on her shoulder.

Flora snapped out of her daze, took down the paper crane, unfolded it, glanced at it, and raised her eyebrows slightly.

"What's wrong?" Eleanor asked.

"The Jade Court has sent an envoy to pay a visit," Flora said, looking up. "The leader of the delegation is Lady Alicia."

A hint of surprise flashed across Eleanor's eyes.

The Emerald Court is locked in a fierce battle with Bloodhowl Fortress, so why would they send an envoy at this crucial juncture?

Moreover, the leader of the team was Alicia, who was regarded by the royal court as one of the future leaders.

This level of importance is unlike any ordinary diplomatic visit.

Eleanor put down the dossier in her hand, stood up, and straightened the creases in her cuffs.

"Please arrange for them to go to the reception room. I'll be right there."

……

The light in the reception room was softer than in the Tianyuan Hall, with sunlight streaming through the high windows casting a long, pale golden ribbon on the dark wooden floor.

When Eleanor entered the drawing room, she saw Alicia standing by the window with her back to the door.

She wore a light blue robe, its surface as clean as freshly cut snow, with only a few fine and restrained silver embroidery patterns at the collar and cuffs.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a soft glow on her long, silvery-white hair that cascaded down her shoulders.

Hearing footsteps, Alicia turned around.

Her face was exceptionally clear and pure, a rarity among elves. Her features were clean and sharp, and her eyes held a detached air that seemed untouched by worldly affairs.

"Your Excellency Alicia, you've come a long way, you must be tired." Eleanor nodded slightly, her smile polite.

"It's been a long time, Lady Eleanor," Alicia returned the greeting.

In terms of both strength and status, she was far superior to Eleanor, yet she always maintained proper courtesy towards this assistant to the Silvermoon Clan chief.

"Please sit down." Eleanor gestured, and the two sat down across the long table. "I'm sorry, the clan leader is currently in seclusion and unable to receive us in person, so I'll have to do it on his behalf. Please forgive me if there's anything I've done inappropriately."

Alicia's eyes flickered slightly as she said, "Rumors are circulating that Anton has already advanced to the Saint realm. Is it true?"

Eleanor smiled slightly, not answering immediately, but instead picked up the teapot on the table, poured Alicia a cup herself, and gently pushed the cup saucer towards her before speaking slowly and deliberately:

I guess so.

Alicia's gaze paused slightly.

What kind of answer is that?

Seeing that Eleanor didn't intend to explain, she didn't press the matter further.

In any case, the news of Anton's breakthrough should be true.

Thinking of this, Alicia couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.

Among the five pillars, she, Celine, and Igner are still stuck at the threshold of the pinnacle of legends, always just one step away from crossing it.

Only Grant and Rexxar recently entered the realm of saints.

When they first met Anton, he was just a young legend who had just begun to make his mark.

But now, he has caught up with and even surpassed them.

The speed at which their strength has increased is truly astonishing.

"Lady Alicia." Eleanor's voice pulled her back from her brief reverie. "You've come here in person, surely not just to hear the rumors?"

Alicia suppressed that subtle emotion and regained her usual calm.

She dropped the formalities and got straight to the point: "I'm here on behalf of the Emerald Court to request that the Silvermoon Clan join forces with the Court to deal with Bloodhowl Fortress."