The roots of the Holy Spirit Tree glowed with a pale golden fluorescence under the moonlight.
Xiya Asolan knelt on one knee at the top of the tree canopy, his Divine Ancestor’s body entwined by countless translucent Destiny Threads.
Those threads, flowing with golden runes, attempted to stitch him to the strange light cluster at the center of the trunk. With every struggle, another crack appeared on his left shoulder — the price of corruption by the "Prisoner of Destiny."
"What an interesting fellow."
Divine Ancestor Xiya sneered at the void.
In the next moment, an unexpected pale flame ignited at his fingertips, instantly burning away the entangling Destiny Threads.
He suddenly recalled the infinite mark hovering over Lynn at the time, vaguely feeling it was familiar, yet no matter how he tried to remember, he couldn’t retrieve the related memory fragments.
Having lived for tens of thousands of years, many memories inevitably become thin and distant with the passage of time.
Divine Ancestor Xiya was well aware that despite crossing the river of time for a hundred thousand years, and his power being greatly diminished, he remained invincible in the current time dimension of this world.
The youth’s essence was merely of Second Rank, yet he was able to momentarily possess power that rivaled Xiya’s, truly astonishing him.
Recalling his path, akin to a life blessed with extraordinary fortune, the Divine Ancestor Xiya, with emotions worn down by the long timeline, was unexpectedly filled with rare agitation.
At least when he was at the Second Rank, he never possessed means like Lynn.
Although he could ascertain that Lynn had borrowed external power at the time, such power was astonishing even to Divine Ancestor Xiya.
He found it hard to accept that someone, living in the same era as his past self, wielded means stronger than he possessed then.
This was the pride of a Divine Ancestor.
If it weren’t for crossing the river of time for a hundred thousand years, and his action time nearing its limit, he would surely have explored the secrets of Lynn thoroughly.
But now, he no longer had such time.
No matter how powerful, opposing time remained an extremely difficult endeavor.
So in the remaining time, he had a very important task to complete.
As the protagonist of the world, in the original novel, until the very end, Divine Ancestor Xiya never became intimate with Great Imperial Princess Hillena.
While for a Divine, sex and love were nothing but ethereal consumables, his heart nevertheless held regrets.
As an eternal Divine, he shouldn’t care about mortal emotions, yet every time he thought of Hillena’s bright eyes, recalling the woman hailed as the most beautiful in the Saint Laurent Empire, his so-called divinity would ripple faintly.
Especially after just experiencing Tiya’s betrayal, this had made Divine Ancestor Xiya exceedingly vigilant.
Clearly, as the strongest God, he vaguely sensed a dissonance from fate when recalling Lynn’s strange fate-derived means during their battle, forcing him to take it seriously.
Thinking of this, Divine Ancestor Xiya’s figure gradually faded.
In fact, just as Divine Ancestor Xiya was "thinking of" Hillena, Hillena was also heading towards the Holy Spirit Tree.
At this moment, the spire of Elloch Palace emerged faintly within the golden light of the tree crown, and the centuries-silent Holy Tree pulsed like a heart.
Hillena’s fingertips unconsciously touched the necklace gifted by her grandfather around her neck, the cool gemstone producing an eerie resonance with the Holy Tree.
In her twenty years of memory, the Holy Spirit Tree had never exhibited such a disturbance.
The words of prophecy flashed in her mind.
"When the golden pillar pierces the firmament, the Savior Brave shall emerge!"
She suddenly recalled the corresponding content from "Chronicles of Xino."
It was the book she loved most in this life.
She loved the intrigues and wars, heroes and iron blood, beauties and gentleness within.
This Imperial Princess, who grew up amidst court conspiracies, still harbored a few pure fantasies in her heart, and at this moment, she felt like a princess in the book saved by the brave hero, her heart racing.
She subconsciously smoothed the wrinkles on her skirt, as if she was about to meet the protagonist of the knight novel secretly hidden under her pillow.
The golden halo of the Holy Spirit Tree swayed in the night breeze, as Hillena’s platinum hair seemed to be bathed in a dreamy sheen.
When she passed through the last shadow of the tree, the sight before her made her breath catch — a blonde youth standing tall, moonlight sculpting his handsome outline, and azure eyes flowing with a gentleness she had never seen.
For some reason, Hillena’s heart thumped wildly, an inexplicable emotion welling up inside.
The person before her seemed both familiar and foreign, making her unsure how to speak.
"Your Highness, long time no see."
Divine Ancestor Xiya’s gentle voice reached her, leaving Hillena slightly stunned.
The youth looked so familiar, yet for unknown reasons, made her feel strangely foreign.
He walked slowly towards her, and with each step, the light and shadows on the ground trembled.
Hillena’s gaze fixed on him, and for reasons unbeknownst to her, the usual sharpness and rationality that could see through hearts seemed to have left her, her breathing slightly hurried.
She wanted very much to stop his act of arrogance, yet the words wouldn’t come out no matter what.