Max Level Return—I'll Protect That Fragile One

Although the days of special training are somewhat dull, Huo Xin and Xu Xingguang enjoy them nonetheless. When Huo Wen’an is not busy, he would return to the Capital City to stay temporarily, but he and Xu Xingguang rarely had chances to meet.

Xu Xingguang spends most of his time at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall, and occasionally when he returns late at night, Huo Wen’an is already asleep.

Even though they are newlyweds, the two lead a life of frequent separations.

Two days before the festival, Xu Xingguang took leave from Ying Ziyao and hurriedly left the Capital City to return to Divine Concealment Island.

Huo Wen’an’s ritual robe was custom-made, but Xu Xingguang, as the new bride, needed a newly tailored ritual robe. Therefore, she had to arrive early on Divine Concealment Island to try on the ritual robe, so the tailor could adjust the size as needed.

Upon returning to the Pilot Mansion, Xu Xingguang barely had time to drink a cup of tea before Andariel took her to try on the ritual robe she would wear on the day of the ceremony.

The robe was made according to her wedding dress measurements; Xu Xingguang had lost a bit of weight due to her special training during this period, but the size change wasn’t too significant, only the waist needed to be taken in a bit.

Afterwards, Andariel began to intensively brief Xu Xingguang on the details of the ritual, directly bringing recordings from earlier years when she accompanied Huo Canghai to the festival for Xu Xingguang to watch.

Xu Xingguang watched and discovered that the Huo Family’s festival was quite similar to the Divine Hidden Dynasty’s festival. The only difference was that the Divine Hidden Crane, having never married, there was no queen’s presence during the festival.

She watched it a few times seriously, and it wasn’t until the next day when Huo Wen’an returned to Divine Concealment Island that she went to the ceremony stage with him for a rehearsal.

The stage was built on a small hill under the Moon Palace, with the hill being around a hundred meters high, and on top of it grew a large, sturdy tree.

The tree was lush with leaves and had numerous branches, resembling a giant umbrella shielding the hill from wind and rain.

Its leaves sported two colors, one like golden foil paper and the other a sunset-like orange-red.

It looked majestic, exuding boundless vitality.

Huo Wen’an stood under the trunk, appearing minuscule against the massive tree.

Song Chi asked, ”What kind of tree is this?”

Huo Wen’an shook his head, ”I don’t know its name, only that it is ancient. According to the residents of Siwei Town, this tree is said to have a history of over a thousand years.”

”Ever since the Huo Family moved to Divine Concealment Island, this tree has been this big.”

Andariel, dressed in a light blue gown, elegantly circled the ancient tree with the edge of her dress in hand, suddenly pressing her ear lightly against it and putting a finger to her lips. ”Shh.”

”Listen.”

Song Chi fell silent, hurriedly mimicking Andariel by pressing against the tree trunk and holding his breath to listen carefully.

He actually heard a sound like flowing water.

”There’s the sound of water flowing inside this tree,” Song Chi found it baffling.

”It’s hailed as the sacred tree of Divine Concealment Island.” Andariel’s expression was devout as she said, ”The people of Siwei Town say that if you call on it with a sincere heart and receive a response, your wishes will undoubtedly come true.”

Song Chi then asked, ”But how do I know if my call was answered?”

Andariel shook her head, ”I don’t know. So far, no one has successfully called upon it.”

”Then what is the matter with the sound of flowing water inside the trunk?” This was the first time Song Chi had encountered something so bizarre, ”Could it be that there’s a water source hidden inside?”

Huo Wen’an shook his head, ”No, we’ve inserted probes inside and no significant amount of water has been detected. What exactly the sound of flowing water is, even researchers cannot explain.”

Xu Xingguang, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke: ”It’s not water, it’s blood.”

”What?” Including Andariel, everyone cast a surprised glance at Xu Xingguang.

Huo Wen’an asked Xu Xingguang, ”Xingguang, why do you think that?”

When Xu Xingguang placed her hand on the tree, she felt a peculiar energy. She said, ”If I am not mistaken, this should be a World Spirit Tree.”

”What’s that?” Song Chi had never heard of it.

”The world has spirits, which may transform into a World Spirit Tree hidden in the mortal world. Its roots link the world’s mountains and rivers; its trunk represents the bloodlines of all living things; its leaves are the hearts of all creatures.”

”In short, once a world generates a sentient ’spirit,’ this ’spirit’ will transform into a tree, providing the world with its protection.”

”Thus, the sound of flowing water we hear is the sound of the bloodlines of all living creatures of the mortal world.” She gazed at the roots of the ancient tree and added, ”The roots of this tree traverse through the seabed of Divine Concealment Island, connecting all the earth veins of the mortal world.”