In order to save time, Hao Ren had divided the elven team into two to conduct excavation work at the Volcano of Dusk and the giant tree of life began operations. Although the situation of the Volcano of Dusk was complicated, the survey data was detailed, so he did not have to worry about it. He decided to personally supervise the excavation of the giant tree of life.
Of course, the most important reason was that he heard that the place had a spectacular scenery. He decided to snap some photos and hang it on the inspector's forum...
On the Holletta side, people were amazed at the teams Hao Ren brought in, which were no nonsense and getting to work straight away without blinking an eye. They too quickly got organized and followed the excavation teams. Portal was rendered useless this time, as the size of the elven excavators had exceeded the limit of what could be teleported by current technology. Fortunately, the speed of the elven flying crafts was not slow, as it took them only tens of minutes to cross the entire territory of Holletta.
After ascertaining the destination, the elven aerial excavation team immediately climbed up to the air and headed toward the destination. Meanwhile, Hao Ren was following Marshal Ophra to the giant tree of life through the portal. The other team which was heading to the Volcano of Dusk was under the command of the Pope.
Of course it was much faster travelling using the portal. By the time Hao Ren arrived at the edge of the giant tree of life, the excavation team was still on the way, which gave everyone a little time to enjoy the surrounding scenery.
The giant tree of life was located in a vast and vibrant mountainous area. The whole area was surrounded by gentle mountains forming a low-lying basin which was covered with green forest. The Disciples of Glory had a base here which was an old monastery located on a nearby hill. The building was as old as the churches in the two other sealed land and inconspicuous in appearance. It is one of the oldest and most sacred facilities in the world.
The portal array near the giant tree of life was directly situated next to the monastery: the Knights of the Kingdom did not have a garrison here, and the entire life giant tree was under the sole responsibility of the Disciples of Glory. The king had set up only a few symbolic knights here, who simply lived in the monastery.
Compared to the desolateness of Dragonspine Ridge and the harsh environment of the Volcano of Dusk, the area around the life giant tree was as lively and pleasant as it got. No one could have linked this place to the terrible ancient legends by looking from the outside. Probably because of this, Holletta's surveillance of the giant tree of life was laxer than the other two places which had kingdom knights and church knights stationed at all time. Hao Ren and the others stood in front of the monastery and gazed at the surrounding mountains and forest, feeling relaxed. Y'lisabet quickly climbed up to her dad's shoulder and shouted at the distant mountains. "Big mountains..."
The demon princess was as innocent as she got—only when she was not a demolition monster.
Seeing the spectacular surrounding scenery, Lily couldn't help running around the hills before she came back down with a handful of stones in her hand. "Mr. Landlord, which one looks better?"
Hao Ren randomly picked one and coaxed her away. He curiously gazed at the mountains and the dome-shaped peaks in the centre of the basin (which looked like a volcano and particularly eye-catching), but he could not find the so-called giant tree of life. "Ophra, where is that tree you said?"
Ophra lifted his finger and pointed to the centre of the basin. "That's it—that is now all that remains."
Hao Ren was startled, only to realize that she was referring to the strange peak in the centre of the basin!
"What the heck..." before Hao Ren could say anything, Lily who was playing with the stones, exclaimed. "That's huge!"
Hao Ren focused his eyes and finally saw some clues from the strange peaks: the 'mountain body' appeared to be too smooth, and the upper part appeared to be too even and uniform to the extent that it was not like a normal mountain, and in the surrounding wilderness were large amount of winding ridges. At first he thought that those uplifts were mountains, but now he realized that they were actually the root of the giant tree!
This was the remain of the giant tree of life, which had been dead for over ten thousand years. The tree's upper body had long crumbled, decayed and formed the soil and rock in the basin. The remaining stump had turned black and overgrown with vegetation, dense forests and shrubs and blended it into the surrounding mountains.
Hao Ren took a breath and asked, "This is the tree?"
Before his voice trailed off, Lil Pea had poked out from under his collar. Seeing the wooden forest, her eyes popped out of her head. "I can eat for a long time! I can eat for a long time! Dad-dee, I can eat for a long time..."
At this time, a Holletta army official was standing next to Hao Ren. The army officer saw Lil Pea and was stunned. "What is this?" he asked.
But he glanced at Hao Ren, and quickly toned down his impoliteness, his face took a serious turn as he hemmed. "Oh, I apologise, I forgot you are a different from us, Holletta people can't perform shadow clone…"
Hao Ren had no chance to explain…
Lil Pea happily squirmed out of the collar, grabbed his clothes and pestered. "Dad-dee, I want eat, I want eat!"
The Holletta officials around saw that and was astounded. A few record officers who looked like scholars quickly took out a small notebook and jotted down what they saw. Vivian tried hard no to laugh and nudged Ophra and said, "Quickly tell them, this thing is neither an avatar of an alien nor an alien kid!"
Ophra waved at her men authoritatively. "On your feet! Look how disgraceful you all have become!"
Then she turned to look at Hao Ren and Lil Pea, face as shocked as a lightning rod. "You two are father and daughter? What did you do to the fish?!"
Before Hao Ren could utter anything, Lily chimed in. "It was to a pot..."
"Oh God..." Ophra said.
"...Can you let me say something?!" Hao Ren interjected.
Fortunately, the confusion did not last long. Just when they were having fun--at least Lily did—the sky suddenly burst into a roar.
The excavation team had finally arrived.
The MDT that had been silent a long while flew up and projected a holographic projection in front of Hao Ren. An image of a higher elven engineer appeared.
"Sun King, all equipment have arrived."
Hao Ren looked at the giant tree in the centre of the basin and nodded. "Let's get started."
After a few moments, the engineering equipment in the sky emitted a series of engine roars, and then quickly dispersed to a height of several hundred meters above the basin in an orderly manner, while two special flying crafts flew toward the centre of the basin instead. The two flying crafts circled at high altitude, switched on their elemental sensors, before images of the underground gradually were displayed in front of the engineering equipment operators.
The technical capability of Aerymian Elves might lag behind those of the interstellar civilizations in general, but they were strong in their own right—excavation, gravity control, deep scanning. These technologies were instrumental in transforming their planet into a space island chain. It could be said that these long ears were odd balls of the 'magic tree'. Except spacecraft, they had almost created everything that did not match their level of civilization.
The elemental sensors that were capable of penetrating hundreds of kilometres of rock could accurately scan the three-dimensional image of the strata layers. The image of the First Born who was sleeping under the giant tree of life would soon be revealed in the holographic projection through the MDT.
Hao Ren saw the way the giant tree of life bound the First Born: it entangled the First Born with layers of giant roots, even banded together with it.
The underground part of the giant tree of life was far more magnificent than surface part. Deep below the ground was a root system that spread for nearly two hundred kilometres. This root system entangled into a nearly spherical shape, which encaged the First Born within. The tentacles of the First Born also spread out in all direction but they were basically held back by the roots of the giant tree of life within a limited area. These two giant creatures, which were so tightly entangled together that they formed an underground scene of wonder.
The hair on Lily's tail was erected layer by layer. "It's so disgusting..."
Vivian's brows also knit together. She nodded and said, "Well, just like a dishwashing ball."
The bat was speaking from her house chore perspective.