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"So the guardian spirit of the Azure Forest is your sister?"

Yino was startled by the tree spirit girl's call of "Sister," and he turned to look at Liuli with a strange expression.

In the game, Liuli had used the Full Moon Cult's dark array to corrupt the Ancient Tree Spirit. Because the tree's life force was connected to the entire Azure Forest's ecosystem through the seal, its corruption triggered chaos throughout the forest, leading to heavy casualties among the righteous cultivators who came to investigate.

In the original timeline, Liuli's actions had their own logic. The Ancient Tree Spirit's corruption created weaknesses in the Azure Forest's barriers, allowing Full Moon Cult cultivators to invade and begin their slaughter.

The combination of righteous cultivators' deaths and the cult's invasion led to the second volume's ultimate outcome - the entire Azure Forest becoming a sacrificial feast for the Mother Goddess of the Full Moon Cult.

The protagonist's group was supposed to defeat Liuli and then subdue the out-of-control Ancient Tree Spirit to restore peace to the Azure Forest.

At least, that's how Yino understood the main plot of the second volume.

But now, new information had emerged.

Liuli and the Ancient Tree Spirit were sisters?

So what was this about a sister corrupting her own sister?

"Her name is Lily."

Liuli didn't turn around, keeping her gaze fixed on the weakened girl suspended in mid-air.

The girl shared Liuli's emerald-green left eye, but her hair was naturally wavy and light green. She wore only a thin, pale dress, with heavy chains binding her hands, feet, and neck. Her small, delicate body looked painfully fragile, as if her legs might break from just a simple fall.

Honestly, apart from the emerald eye beneath the bandage, Yino couldn't see any resemblance between Liuli and the tree spirit girl. Otherwise, he would have noticed something in the game from their appearances alone.

"A hundred years ago, when human cultivators invaded the Azure Forest, I tried to convince Lily to escape with me..."

"But she couldn't bear to abandon the creatures of this land. She chose to become a sacrifice under the human cultivators' array, willing to give up her life to save the countless beings of this land."

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"Later, I fought my way out alone, broke through the cultivators' barrier, and fled to the Western Region with severe injuries. When I was at my most desperate, a kind nun took me in. She prayed for the Mother Goddess's blessing, which restored my half-rotted body to life..."

At this point in her story, Liuli turned back, removing her hood and gently pulling down the bodice of her evening gown to reveal a blood-colored curse mark on her ivory skin, as well as the slight color difference in the flesh of her chest.

If Liuli hadn't removed her bandage to let Yino examine the contrast carefully, he wouldn't have noticed that the two sides of her body had different skin tones.

Her left side had the normal fair complexion of a young woman.

Her right side, however, had an unnaturally pale, sickly color that didn't look human at all.

No wonder I had always felt there was something sickly and weak about Liuli's appearance.

"Sister... where are you..."

The sealed tree spirit girl continued calling out softly.

But when Yino looked back, he saw that Liuli had no intention of responding to her sister's calls. She just watched the pitiful tree spirit girl with gentle, pained eyes.

"She's calling for you..."

Seeing how pitiful the little tree spirit was, Yino couldn't help but remind her.

Liuli smiled faintly, lowering her gaze. "She's trapped in the array's illusion right now. She can't see or hear anything, and even her skin has lost all sensation. She's only calling out to me instinctively because she can sense my life force..."

"In this situation, do you think I have any way to communicate with her other than changing my life force signature?"

She turned to look at Yino with a self-mocking smile.

Yino shut his mouth, beginning to understand why in the game, when Liuli was beaten to near death, the imprisoned Ancient Tree Spirit finally lost control of her anger and caused chaos in the Azure Forest.

It was because the sister had sensed her sibling's life force fading...

Though from another perspective, Liuli might have deliberately appeared weak, pretending to die in front of her sister to trigger her loss of control.

However, just as Yino was feeling sympathetic for the tree spirit sisters, his right hand's holy mark unexpectedly emanated a faint golden light pattern.

[Master, she's so shy...] Wangxue said softly in his consciousness sea.

The usually bright and cheerful spirit deer spoke in an unusually gentle, quiet voice, as if afraid of startling a trembling kitten. Yino raised an eyebrow.

[Who's 'she'?]

[That little sapling...]

[What? Little sapling?]

Yino blinked, looking up at the weakly breathing tree spirit girl suspended in the air, and asked again: [How do you know she's shy?]

[Because I've been talking to her for ages, but she won't answer anything, just hiding in the corner afraid of me...]

[Wait, how are you even talking to her?]

[Of course through the Nature Resonance ability in my antlers! Don't forget that I am a guardian deity! Every single plant in the North Falling Snow Village begs me to eat them, even the little roadside flowers and grass beg for my fertilizer to help them grow strong!]

In his consciousness sea, the little deer put her hooves on her hips proudly.

[Wait, what???]

The absurd conversation with Wangxue made Yino's expression twist.

He could already imagine the scene of roadside flowers and grass waving at Wangxue, begging for it to urinate on them...

Seriously, was this how the cultivation world worked?

But more ridiculously, Yino had to admit that Wangxue's words made some sense.

After all, if even the nine-colored deer's saliva could become the village's top specialty product worth treasuring, then naturally the divine deer's excrement would be like holy water that the local plants could only dream of receiving once every hundred years!

[This is getting ridiculous...]

Yino drew in a sharp breath, finally silenced by Wangxue's logic.

But after a moment of silence, Yino thought of a strange angle—

[So can you become friends with this tree spirit?]

[Of course! No flowers or grass in this world dislike Wangxue! This little sapling is only hiding from me because she's a bit shy!] In his consciousness sea, the little deer posed proudly with hooves on hips, showing no sense of shame whatsoever.

Yino's lips twitched, but he still curiously asked: [Then why don't you chat with her and see if you can help heal her?]

[No problem! Even though this little sapling is weak and shy now, once Wangxue gives her some fertilizer, she'll grow strong in just a few days and understand the greatness of the divine deer!]

[Can you please stop thinking about your fertilizer? No wonder she's afraid and won't talk to you.]

[How... how could that be! How could there be any sapling in this world that would dislike my fertilizer?!]

[She's the guardian spirit of the Azure Forest, with territory hundreds of times larger than your little snow mountain. You want to defecate on her head?]

[Ah—! Oh, that's right!]

The little deer's eyes widened, face turning pale, as if awakening from a dream and watching her lifelong worldview crumble.

She swallowed uncertainly and changed the subject, continuing to wave her antlers while trying to chat with the shy tree spirit.

Meanwhile, in reality, Yino came back to his senses and looked curiously at Liuli.

"So, you brought me here to save your sister?"

Yino continued following the conversation, curious about the hidden truth.

Meanwhile, Liuli emerged from her thoughts about her sister.

She didn't immediately respond to Yino, instead walking softly to the front of the platform and placing her left hand on the transparent barrier imprisoning the tree spirit—

"Actually, you could say I'm saving Lily in my own way."

Liuli spoke softly.

But while she spoke of saving, her hand touching the barrier revealed an eerie blood-colored array pattern.

This bloody spiritual energy slowly flowed from her palm into the barrier. After several moments of resistance, Liuli finally broke through the barrier's self-protection mechanism with the overwhelming power of a Full Moon Cult Holy Maiden.

At the same time, Liuli began taking short, weak breaths, showing this wasn't an easy task.

"What are you doing?"