Andor spoke as he flew towards the body.
"I think I might know why Wan Lai'er's True Spirit came here."
Alisa and another person closely followed behind him.
As they passed by Margaret's body, Alisa paused briefly, but only sighed softly in her heart and continued flying forward without any other action.
"Poisonous Rage Flesh Puppets are not uncommon on the front lines, but those made from mutated Wizards, especially those that seem to have been made hastily during battle, are rather rare," Andor continued to explain to the newcomers, Kesi and Alisa.
"Moreover, the appearance of such hastily created Poisonous Rage Flesh Puppets also means one thing—the presence of a Divine Bloodline bearer."
Andor arrived in front of the flesh puppet and examined it.
The flesh puppet was prostrate overall, with its skull slightly lifted and its right hand stretched forward, looking in Margaret's direction.
Behind it, there was a clear trail of movement extending deep into the forest, with its own flaked dark red flesh scattered along the trail.
"Come with me," Andor said, ignoring Margaret's body.
That was just one of many Wizard bodies commonly seen on the battlefield, what was more important was the place from where the flesh puppet had come!
The three of them continued along the trail and eventually found Naris' charred and mutilated body beside a tree.
Whoosh!
A pale white glow shot from Andor's hand towards the body.
Moments later,
a flickering dark red glow suddenly appeared on Naris' body, and it contorted and changed as if it were alive.
"As I thought," Andor nodded, dispelling the witchcraft, "This is a follower of the Divine Bloodline… or rather, a Divine Son."
As the witchcraft was dispelled, the dark red glow extinguished, but the Red Soil Forest did not appear dark.
The trees here had all died, the once lush branches had completely fallen off, and many decaying ancient trees had broken from their roots under their own weight, lying across the brown-stained land.
Thus, the pale golden morning light fell unobstructed, illuminating the entire area and making the surrounding view quite expansive.
"It seems that Wan Lai'er's True Spirit came here to find this... Divine Son," Kesi spoke, his gaze fixed on Naris' charred body, and added in a lighter tone, "Pity, the bearer of the Divine Bloodline was taken out by our Wizard a bit too early!"
"That is a great achievement, I wonder which fortunate young Wizard it was," Andor smiled and waved, stowing the body away.
Just like the mist formed by the True Spirit of Wan Lai'er, the body containing the Divine Bloodline also needed to be properly handled, otherwise its detrimental effects could last for hundreds of years.
"Could it be the young Wizard we saw earlier outside the forest, the one Alisa Your Excellency knew..." Kesi suddenly said, his tone sinking as he recalled the young Wizard had died, and he chuckled awkwardly.
Moments later, he dryly added to Alisa, "A brave sacrifice, worthy of praise, I imagine the Supreme Council of the Siya Continent will surely bestow additional rewards."
"No," but Alisa shook her head, explaining, "I can feel that this follower of the Divine died later."
"That's right," Andor also spoke, his gaze sweeping around and concluding, "The Wizard who killed the Divine Bloodline bearer is someone else!"
As he spoke, Andor's gaze suddenly paused.
Now that the trees of the Red Soil Forest had all perished, especially the slightly larger ancient trees, they were basically broken, lying on the ground.
This not only made the view much wider, it also made the rotten great tree in his vision appear even more massive!
"King Ao."
At this moment, Kesi suddenly spoke, following Andor's gaze to the large tree, a trace of memory flickered in his eyes,
"That giant tree, known as King Ao, the King of the Red Soil Forest."
Feeling the gaze of Alisa and Andor on him, Kesi paused, then began to slowly narrate,
"I spent eight years studying on Gubier Island as a child, back when the Red Soil Forest was still shrouded in mystery... of course, it still is, just no longer in its once frequented state, during which Wizards of all kinds came and went incessantly.
There were Apprentices and Official Wizards, and even occasionally High Rank Wizards would come by... each Wizard tried to uncover the cause of what made the Red Soil Forest so special…"
At this point, Kesi paused for a moment and asked,
"Do the two of you know what makes the Red Soil Forest special?"
"The vivid red soil and the 'Shattered Glass' trees," Andor smiled.
"Yes, the Shattered Glass Trees, that's what we called them back then!" Kesi nodded and continued,
"Anyway, all Wizards wanted to find out why the 'Shattered Glass' trees and this land were so special... As for the purpose, maybe it was to make a fortune, maybe it was to enhance strength, or maybe it was just... going with the flow.
But anyway, by the time I advanced to Official Wizard and left Gubier Island, no one had discovered anything in the Red Soil Forest..."
Kesi took a breath and looked towards King Ao in the distance, slowly walking over.
"This gigantic ancient tree didn't stand out back then; the Wizards were only surprised by its size and named it after King Ao, but no one coveted it...allowing it to survive till now."
Kesi walked under the gigantic tree, his expression somewhat somber.
Wizards do not cultivate people into indifferent Divine beings.
These High Rank Wizards, as long as their willpower is strong enough to resist the tainted babbling of the world, appeared to be more humane.
"It's a pity..." Kesi slowly reached out his right hand, wanting to touch the great tree King Ao once again.
But before his palm could fully make contact with the tree.
Crack.
A faint sound came.
Kesi's expression froze, slowly looking up at the tree.
A fresh morning breeze gently blew by.
Like the last straw that broke the camel's back...
The great tree King Ao slowly began to collapse... no, rather than collapsing, it seemed to shatter.
For some reason, King Ao's damage seemed even worse than the other ancient trees... it wasn't just breaking.
Rather, true to its name, it collapsed like shattered glass!
Gray-brown dust flew up, with dust clouds rising, and the shockwave made Kesi's gray Wizard Robe flutter loudly, countless pieces of gray-brown wood raining down like a sudden storm.
But Kesi did not dodge; he simply remained standing there, arms extended.
Neither Andor nor Alisa on the other side moved; they were not worried about Kesi's safety.
Just the defensive Witch Array inherent in Kesi's Wizard Robe would block the dust and wood debris.
Boom—
Perhaps the ancient tree King Ao, having lived for a thousand years, just turned to ashes overnight, not even leaving a slightly larger fragment behind.
Moments later, as the lingering dust cleared, Kesi's silhouette was revealed.
His yellow hair still stood erect and sharp, his body spotless, but he somehow looked uniquely desolate.
Alisa stood quietly, her face shadowed, her expression unreadable.
On the other side, Andor sighed and slowly said,
"Let's go, Kesi."
"Just plant a seed here next spring, and one day, the Red Soil Forest will regain its lush appearance."
But just as his voice rang out.
Boom—
As if triggering a chain reaction, the collapse of King Ao marked the beginning of other deaths, with the dead trees in the Red Soil Forest beginning to break and collapse one after the other.
For a moment, dust billowed, and the rumbling noise was incessant.
Amid the enveloping dust, Kesi seemed to awaken, no longer standing stiffly, slowly turning around.
Boom—
The trees kept collapsing.
But a look of release gradually appeared on Kesi's face, he looked at Andor and suddenly smiled:
"That's true."