The mist in the depths of the Sacred Tree glowed with a fine silver aura, like rubbed moonlight condensed into a solid body.The tip of Silverleaf's staff lit up with a guiding shimmer, and his fingertips gently traced over the back of Lin Xing's hand, "The illusion will transform into the scene of your greatest fear, but remember - everything here is a projection woven by the star tracks, and the only way to find the remnants of the page is to keep your heart."
The moment he stepped into the fog wall, Lin Xing's temples jumped.The scene before her eyes changed abruptly: the damp stone-brick road stretched out into the rainy human town, the fountain on the corner had long since dried up, and the walls were painted with distorted star-leaf patterns in burnt black paint - the forbidden symbols of the Elves.She looked down to see her hands shaking, the cuffs of her school uniform showing half of their pale gold markings, while the pedestrians around her were staring at her with hatred.
"Half-breed bastard!"Sharp stones smashed against her feet as a couple of teenagers wearing bronze gauntlets with the griffin coat of arms of the human royals approached with sneers, "Elven bastards should be burned along with the sacred tree!" The mist in the depths of the Sacred Tree glowed with a fine silver aura, like rubbed moonlight condensed into a solid body.The tip of Silverleaf's staff lit up with a guiding shimmer, and his fingertips gently traced over the back of Lin Xing's hand, "The illusion will transform into the scene of your greatest fear, but remember - everything here is a projection woven by the star tracks, and the only way to find the remnants of the page is to keep your heart."
The moment he stepped into the fog wall, Lin Xing's temples jumped.The scene before her eyes changed abruptly: the damp stone-brick road stretched out into the rainy human town, the fountain on the corner had long since dried up, and the walls were painted with distorted star-leaf patterns in burnt black paint - the forbidden symbols of the Elves.She looked down to see her hands shaking, the cuffs of her school uniform showing half of their pale gold markings, while the pedestrians around her were staring at her with hatred.
"Half-breed bastard!"Sharp stones smashed against her feet as a couple of teenagers wearing bronze gauntlets with the griffin coat of arms of the human royals approached with sneers, "Elven bastards should be burned along with the sacred tree!"
Lin Xing wanted to run, but her legs felt like lead.Memories came like a tidal wave: when she was twelve years old, she showed her star-leaf mark in the human school, and was ridiculed by her classmates for being a "monster" by throwing chalk; her father burned the elf costume left by her mother overnight, but she secretly wiped away her tears in the light of the fire.The fear in her vision was so real at the moment that she huddled in the corner, hearing her own rapid breathing mixed with the sound of rain.
"Starleaf needs sunlight and shade to grow."Silverleaf's voice suddenly pierced through the chaos.She looked up to see him standing at the edge of the foggy wall, his silver hair like flowing moonlight in the shimmering light, "Look at me, don't be trapped by the past - you're not a lone monster, you're an indentured servant who can resonate with the Sacred Tree."
He stretched out his hand, the starlight maple leaf lying in his palm.Lin Xing trembled as she touched it, golden light spreading along her fingertips as the illusion of the town before her eyes crumbled like broken glass.In the next moment, she was in a boundless snowy plain, and in the roiling snow, Silverleaf's figure was becoming transparent, like a dandelion blown away by the wind and snow.
"Silver Leaf!"She stumbled and lunged, but went through his arm.A blood-colored sunset was reflected in the elf boy's eyes, and an enchanted arrow was stuck in his chest - the very scene where Yue Li sacrificed herself that year."Why did you save me ..." his voice grew softer and softer, "Humans only bring destruction ..."
Tears blurred her vision, and Lin Xing suddenly remembered the feeling she had when she touched the Blue Scale Grass at the Moon Tear Lake.She opened her palm and let the Star Leaf Seal close to the silver leaf that was about to dissipate, "Because you taught me to listen with my heart."Golden light wrapped around the transparent body, the snowy plains melted into flowing star trails, and the entity of the Silver Leaf reconfirmed in front of her, a cold sweat hanging from the corner of her forehead.
"The illusion is dividing our fears."He gripped her hand tightly, his fingertips rubbing the unfading golden light on the back of her hand, "My fear is losing ... Losing Yue Li again, losing you."
The mist suddenly churned violently, and millions of starlights shot in like sharp arrows.The Silverleaf Staff cut out a green barrier, but he saw each ray of starlight transform into the face of a human soldier - their eyes danced with the same scarlet resentment as those of the giant wolves, and black mist seeped out of the seams of their armor.Lin Xing recognized the gauntlet of one of them as the griffin crest that had attacked her in the illusion.
"This isn't just an illusion!"Silverleaf's vines were corroded by the black mist, and festering wounds surfaced on her arms once again, "Someone has implanted real dark magic in the illusion!"
Lin Xing suddenly remembered the trace of human eyes before the giant wolf disappeared.She pressed down on Silverleaf's wound, golden light surged into the staff along their interlocked hands, and the staff woven with moonlight vines suddenly emitted a clear chirping sound.Star tracks converged into the shape of a giant maple leaf above their heads, and wherever they went the black fog melted away like boiling snow, revealing a stone niche suspended behind a wall of fog-the remnants of the pages of the initial Star Leaf Compact were lying silently within it.
Ancient words on the remnant pages automatically appeared when they touched Lin Xing's fingertips: "Star Leaf symbiosis requires the blood of two beings to water the roots of the sacred tree.When the griffins of the human royal family pecked at the star leaves, the only way to end the thousand years of war is to break the 'pure blood' obsession."
The last line was suddenly covered in blood red, and the scene flashed back to the underground chamber of the human royal city: the king wearing a bronze mask was pressing his hand on a crystal ball, which reflected the scene in the Sacred Tree's illusion, and the cuffs of his sleeves slipped down, revealing the same black mist pattern as the giant wolf."The healing power of a half-blood girl ...," he said as he laughed lowly, his palm crushing over a dried specimen of star leaf, "Yue Li's sister escaped too quickly back then, I didn't realize that her bloodline would come to the door on its own."
Back in reality, the mist in the depths of the Sacred Tree had dissipated.Silverleaf looked at the bloody words on the remnants of the page, and suddenly noticed that the Lin Xing necklace pendant was glowing - it was in the shape of a maple leaf left behind by his mother, and it matched perfectly with the pattern of star leaves on the remnants of the page.
"The soldiers ... in the illusionary realm have wrist guards that resemble the old things that father hid back then."Lin Xing's voice trembled, "Father said that mother is a human, but the remnant page mentions Twin Born Blood ... Could it be that mother is also an elf royal family?"
Silverleaf's pupils plummeted, "Yue Li has a twin sister, your mother.Back then, the royal family tried to wipe out all mixed-blood offspring for the sake of 'pure-blood rule', and she was forced to flee to the human world ... " He suddenly gripped Lin Xing's shoulders, "Just now in the illusionary realm, the darknessmagic aura came from the forbidden arts of the human royal family-they're monitoring us in some way."
In the distance came the muffled sound of the sacred tree's annual cycle, like the earth was sighing.Silverleaf took the remnants of the page into his arms and ran his fingertips across the moist corners of Lin Xing's eyes, "It is not the fear itself that is tested by the illusion, but whether we are willing to break it for each other."The tips of his ears reddened once again, but he firmly locked eyes with her, "Now I finally understand that Yue Li told me to 'not be blinded by hatred' because a true Star Leaf Contract is never a one-way guardianship."
As they walked out of the depths of the Sacred Tree, the Blue Scale Grass of the Moon Tear Lake was singing softly with the night breeze.Lin Xing suddenly pointed at the lake and exclaimed in astonishment: at the top of the sacred tree reflected in the water, the originally single starlight was now split into two clusters, one bright and one dark, but growing entwined with each other - just like her overlapping shadows with the silver leaves.
"It's time to go back."Silverleaf said softly, "The Elders said that the remnants of the contract need the blood of both parties to activate it.But until then ...," he coalesced a brighter starlight maple leaf and gently pinned it to Lin Xing's hair this time, "the next time you encounter an illusion, remember that I'm in your eyes - just like you're in myheart."
The night wind brought a distant wolf howl, but it was no longer a hostile hiss.Lin Xing touched the starlight in her hair and suddenly realized: what the illusion of fear had taught her was not to run away from the wounds of the past, but to learn to let the light of the star leaves both illuminate her own vulnerability and warm the wounds of those around her.
And in the shadows of the human king's city, the scarlet pupils behind the bronze mask were gazing at the gradually clearing light of the Star Leaf Twin Life in the crystal ball.The king laughed coldly and turned towards the wall full of elven specimens, his fingertips resting on Yue Li's portrait - the "perfect pureblood" that he failed to obtain back then, but after three hundred years, let his prey step into the trap of her own accord.
"Activate 'Planet Eclipse'."He pressed the star leaf relief on the wall, and a complex magic formation appeared on the floor of the chamber, "Since mixed blood can activate the sacred tree, let her be the key to unlocking the knot ... before destroying her most cherished bonds with her own hands."
The moonlight passed through the clouds and illuminated the twin stars intertwined at the top of the sacred tree.The trajectories of the stars and leaves were weaving a brighter and also more dangerous future in the coming storm.