“We also… share the excess life essence inside our bodies with the other sisters in the forest.”
The Treant girl Xiao Lu’s cheeks flushed bright red, and her voice became as soft as a mosquito’s buzz.
“This way, our forest can always stay… so full of vitality.”
Fan Zhuo’s eye twitched uncontrollably.
Although it sounded a bit… uninhibited, on closer thought, it seemed like a rather pure instinct based on species reproduction and symbiosis.
They had no complex social ethics; they were merely following the most primitive laws of life.
“Filth!”
Lucien spat the word through clenched teeth.
As expected, this fundamentalist genius inquisitor equated such behavior directly with the dirtiest kind of debauchery in his worldview.
“Lord Valuwa, please calm down,” Old John hurriedly whispered beside him.
“They… they are just like this by nature, and not in the way you imagine… they’re all female…”
Fan Zhuo spoke up at the right moment, his voice calm and sacred, as if explaining a divine doctrine:
“My lord, all things have their own way. What we see as ‘sharing’ may be, to them, as natural and cyclical as breathing and drinking water. We cannot judge non-human natures with human morality.”
The words sounded grand and solemn, even Fan Zhuo himself almost believed them.
Xiao Lu’s pure, wide eyes instantly brightened as she looked at Fan Zhuo, filled with admiration.
“Big brother, you speak so well! The scent on you is different from those fierce priests, it smells… so warm, I want to get closer.”
She said this as she stepped forward toward Fan Zhuo.
He could feel it— as Xiao Lu approached, an exquisitely pure life energy radiated from her, like invisible hands gently teasing the “Holy Power Lake” that had just formed inside him.
At this moment, ripples of longing spread across the surface of the lake.
These girls… could they stir the Holy Power within him?
Fan Zhuo felt he had just discovered something incredible.
“Ahem.”
Fan Zhuo calmly stepped back half a pace, keeping a safe distance from the girl.
He definitely didn’t want to perform a “Holy Light Outburst” in front of Lucien.
Lucien’s cold gaze swept between Fan Zhuo and Xiao Lu; he seemed about to say something, but Fan Zhuo’s expression of “sacred mercy and equality for all things” left him with no point of attack.
For once, this “heretic” in Lucien’s eyes had briefly claimed the moral high ground.
Any normal priest faced with such an alluring scene would either blush furiously or look away in disgust.
But Fan Zhuo… he was too calm.
So calm he seemed like an emotionless statue, as if the living colors and fragrances before him were no different from the flowers and trees by the roadside.
This extreme “holiness” only made Lucien feel a trace of unease.
He had lived for so many years but never seen such a person.
“Keep moving inward.”
Lucien finally suppressed his displeasure and issued a cold command.
“Yes, my lord.”
Fan Zhuo nodded slightly and turned to lead the way.
“Big brother, are you going to the heart of the forest?”
Xiao Lu hopped along beside them.
“I’ll take you there! But… that’s our Sanctuary, you priests have to be careful with your eyes…”
With this “native” guiding them, their journey became much smoother.
The deeper they went into the forest, the brighter the light became, and the sweeter, richer scent of life essence thickened in the air.
Fan Zhuo felt as if he were walking inside a massive force field composed entirely of life energy.
The Holy Power within him was more active than ever, even starting to operate spontaneously, greedily absorbing the surrounding scattered energy.
Though inefficient, the feeling of constant “leveling up” made him secretly pleased.
Along the way, they encountered more Treants and Flower Sprites.
Some sang atop the treetops, some danced beside streams, while others gathered in small groups, bodies pressed close together, engaged in that kind of “life essence sharing.”
Each scene was enough to make any normal man’s blood boil.
Old John squinted the whole time, murmuring what sounded like a calming mantra.
Lucien’s expression grew darker and darker, the chill radiating from him almost freezing the air around.
Fan Zhuo suspected that if it weren’t for his investigation mission, this inquisitor lord would have drawn his sword on the spot and cleansed this “filthy forest” thoroughly.
Fan Zhuo noticed one detail: Lucien’s disgust was not only aimed at the girls’ “uninhibited” behavior.
When a breeze carrying dozens of flower scents passed by, Fan Zhuo saw Lucien’s brows furrow even tighter, and he made a subtle motion as if to cover his mouth and nose.
Hmph.
A battle-hardened inquisitor feeling unwell from mere flower fragrance?
For a man, that was rather delicate.
A trace of doubt flashed through Fan Zhuo’s mind but he didn’t pursue it.
All his focus now was on resisting this forest’s dual “corruption” of body and soul.
Finally, after passing through a curtain of glowing vines, they reached their destination— the heart of the forest.
It was a vast circular clearing, dominated by an awe-inspiring towering ancient tree that words could scarcely describe.
The tree was so massive its canopy almost covered the entire sky; countless glowing vines hung from its branches like a waterfall of stars.
The overwhelming sacred light of the entire forest emanated from this colossal tree.
Around the giant tree gathered hundreds of Treants and Flower Sprites of all shapes and forms.
They neither played nor danced but solemnly surrounded the tree, sitting or lying down, their life energies connected to the tree, forming a huge and harmonious energy cycle.
This was the Sanctuary of the “Treant Forest,” and the source of their power.
“Magnificent…”
Old John couldn’t help but sigh in awe.
Fan Zhuo was equally stunned by the scene.
He could feel the life energy contained within this giant tree was vast enough to rival a small city.
Yet Lucien’s attention was completely elsewhere.
He closed his eyes, and a silver Divine Compass in his hand emitted a faint glow, its needle spinning wildly before finally drooping weakly.
“None…”
Lucien suddenly opened his eyes, his voice tinged with undisguised disappointment and frustration.
“That ‘Heretic Aura’ is not here.”
“What?”
Old John was stunned.
“But… didn’t the Papal Palace’s detection results say otherwise?”
“The detection results are not wrong.”
Lucien pocketed the Divine Compass, his cold gaze sweeping over the devout Treants surrounding the giant tree.
“But this ‘Heretic Aura’ is even more cunning than I imagined. It wanders this island, appearing and disappearing…”
“They… are deliberately avoiding our tracking…”
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