novelraw Chapter 162 - 160: Heading to the Holy Land
Chapter 162 - 160: Heading to the Holy Land
Westheid and Mivana’s post-battle respite lasted for a day and a night. Only when they returned did they learn the battle had actually raged for a full day and two nights, right in the middle of a once-in-a-century storm that had torn through Purity Forest.
The battle against Mivana had been Westheid’s most intense and bloody fight to date, its brutality almost beyond words.
It couldn’t even compare to his fight against the Scorching Wings during the Secret Realm Trial. After all, Reiya had been the main damage dealer in that battle; Westheid had merely played a supporting role.
This time, however, Westheid had truly fought a battle he could pour his all into. He had successfully prevented Mivana’s fall, stopping the Beast-eared Maiden at the very edge of Purity Forest.
Not only that, but Mivana’s rampage had sent the Chaos Army scattering for hundreds of miles. Not a single Demon could be seen in the entirety of Purity Forest.
This meant that Westheid’s primary strategic objective—rescuing the Pure Holy Spirit—was already complete.
"Brother, our path is clear! It’s completely clear!"
Yolanda reported to Westheid with tremendous excitement, "We can head directly to the heart of the Holy Land now. We could even press our advantage and retake nearly half of the Qinghui Territory without any trouble! According to our scouts, there are no longer any traces of the Chaos Army in those areas."
"Let’s not. Defending Purity Forest is enough. Anything more is beyond our current capabilities."
Westheid quickly cut her off. "Let’s just focus on securing the territory we’ve purified. We won’t expand any further. Our forces are stretched too thin."
Ever since being outmaneuvered by the Devourer, Westheid had learned his lesson the hard way. His once extremely aggressive strategic style had taken a complete one-eighty, and now he was absurdly conservative.
There was no helping it. He had assumed all Chaos Creatures were simple-minded, but he never expected a cunning villain to emerge from Chaos. As a Dirt World Desolate God, the Devourer’s intelligence was abnormally high.
It wasn’t that Chaos Creatures were incapable of thought. In fact, if a Chaos Creature existed in the Mortal World long enough, it would inevitably be "poisoned" by Order, becoming rational, intelligent, capable of communication, and even able to form organizational structures.
But resorting to strategy was taking it a step too far. ’Since when do Chaos Creatures play mind games? A disgrace to Chaos!’
Since the enemy was no longer a predictable beast, Westheid had to treat them with the respect they were due.
’I won’t make the same mistake twice.’
Besides, Westheid’s original goal had simply been to rescue the Pure Holy Spirit and save himself from the threat of corruption. Now that the immediate danger was past, there was no need to be so aggressive.
’Purity Forest is the most important thing. As for the rest of the Qinghui Territory... that can be reclaimed slowly.’
So, after resting for a few days, Westheid decided to head directly to the heart of Purity Forest to meet with his unworthy ancestor, lest any delays lead to complications.
Once the Holy Spirit Power was unleashed, everything else would be much easier.
Westheid took only Yolanda with him. After all, of the current Qinghui Bloodline, there was only his sister from a branch family besides himself, the bearer of the True Blood.
Yolanda was bursting with excitement. An audience with the Holy Spirit Ancestor was an honor reserved only for the generational line of Dukes of Qinghui, and even they had only ever communicated with the ancestor from the heart of the Holy Land.
Yolanda: "Brother, I heard the Ancestor already has a physical form?"
Westheid nodded. "Mm. For Chaos to corrupt a Holy Spirit, it has to force it into a physical form. Under a Chaos Domain, a Holy Spirit can no longer hide in the Spirit Realm."
"The Ancestor’s physical form... I wonder how magnificent and benevolent she’ll look?"
The platinum-blonde girl clasped her hands, resting them under her snowy chin in anticipation.
Her look of adoration far surpassed even the reverence shown to the Radiant Holy Tree.
Then again, Yolanda wasn’t exactly a Holy Tree Believer. Compared to the Holy Tree, her own family’s Holy Spirit Ancestor was naturally a more worthy object of veneration.
Westheid glanced at his sister, whose eyes were shining with excitement, and let out a cold laugh.
"Hah. I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. Not every Holy Spirit’s physical form is as majestic as the Holy Tree. Most of them look no different from ordinary mortals."
Yolanda instantly replied:
"That doesn’t matter! The Pure Holy Spirit who blesses our Qinghui Bloodline is surely the most elegant, magnificent, and noble of beings. It’s even recorded in the *Song of Purity*!"
"..."
Westheid didn’t say anything more. Since Yolanda was looking at the situation through such thick, rose-colored glasses, correcting her would only get him labeled a hater.
’Admiration is the emotion furthest from understanding.’
As he and Yolanda stepped into Purity Forest, Westheid immediately received a communication from the Pure Holy Spirit:
"Child... I sense that Chaos has left. Was that your doing?"
Westheid: "Show some respect. Call me West, or Duke Qinghui!"
He had no intention of being pleasant to the Pure Holy Spirit.
This wasn’t entirely due to her mind-bogglingly foolish actions; it was also because his future plans for Ascension required Purity Forest as a foundation. Therefore, he had to establish his dominance.
Within the Qinghui Territory, Westheid had to be the Dominator with absolute power. Even a Holy Spirit Ancestor needed to understand who was really in charge.
"Eep! I... I know!"
Fortunately, the Pure Holy Spirit had a disappointingly meek personality. The moment Westheid took a firm tone, she immediately cowered, showing not even a hint of anger at being contradicted by her own descendant.
"W-West... so, the Chaos Army outside is..."
"They’ve all retreated. Purity Forest is safe now. You should be able to sense that."
"R-really? Yay! That’s wonderful!"
The Pure Holy Spirit cried out with giddy joy, thanking Westheid profusely:
"My dear chi—no, West! My dear West, my dearest West, thank you, thank you so much! I knew you could do it! *Sniffle*... I can finally get a good night’s sleep."
Westheid: "There’s no need for thanks. I’m heading your way now. Remember to open the Barrier."
Pure Holy Spirit: "Mhm, you can come right in. It won’t block my children. Yaaawn... I’m so sleepy. I’m going to take a nap."
With that, the Pure Holy Spirit severed the connection, presumably having fallen asleep on the spot.p>
"Brother? Were you just... speaking with the Ancestor?"
Yolanda asked.
"Mm. The Ancestor is resting in the Holy Land. We can just head straight over."
’No, what I mean is... is that how you talk to the Ancestor?’
’Isn’t that a little... disrespectful?’
But Yolanda didn’t voice these thoughts, silently following behind her brother instead.
It was a long way from the outskirts to the heart of the Holy Land. After crossing through woodland that had been ravaged by war almost beyond recognition, the pair finally arrived at the core Holy Land, which was enveloped in an azure Barrier.