Fifty-five thousand dark disciples remained, with eighty percent staying on the side of the Lucky Forest.
Seeing this change, Hei Ru felt a surge of nausea, as if he were about to vomit blood.
"Why is it like this?" Hei Ru asked in confusion. "Is it simply because darkness is evil?"
"Who told you darkness is evil?" Gan Lang refuted directly.
"The dark element itself is not guilty. The evil lies with those of you who use darkness as a shield. You believe you represent darkness, but you never realize that darkness does not need representatives. Darkness is merely an element."
"Darkness is an element?" Hei Ru froze. It was the first time he had heard such a theory.
Gan Lang smiled and spoke. "Years ago, our ancestors, defeated in a war, felt they had wronged the light element. Thus, they dared not use the name Light Forest, leaving only the name Lucky Forest.
Today, this war has made us understand that the elves, beastmen, dwarves, and countless other beings of our Lucky Forest have become independent.
We can now tell all beings in every plane with pride: our Lucky Forest is the Light Forest. The Light Forest has returned."
"The Light Forest has returned!" All the beings of the Lucky Forest shouted loudly.
Xie Jifan had been waiting for this moment. He snapped his fingers, and a line of characters appeared in the sky: The Lucky Forest is permitted to return to its status as the Light Forest.
These words were seen not only by those in the Lucky Forest but also by all nearby planes. Xi Muzheng in the Sage Academy saw them as well.
"The Heavenly Dao has approved. The Heavenly Dao has truly approved." Seeing this, tears welled up in the eyes of the Elf Queen. "Our Light Forest has returned."
"The Light Forest has returned!" Everyone cried out.
The characters appearing in the mid-air successfully halted the war, which was nearing its end. At this moment, Zhu Yanyi glanced at the sky. This was her chance. She smiled faintly, leaped into the mid-air, and looked down. Seeing the curious and confused expressions of the crowd below, a smile returned to her face. With a gesture of her left hand, she opened her right hand, and the Human Book appeared.
"Heaven and earth, heaven and earth, humans divided. The Heaven Book determines the sky, the Earth Book stabilizes the ground, the Human Book ferries humans. I am the Human Book, ferrying humans and souls. Souls return to their homeland, with clear meridians. In the next life, they return, and heaven and earth are clear. Thus, I ferry all who can be ferried, all souls that can be ferried. Souls, return! Ferry the souls!"
As Zhu Yanyi’s incantation rang out, all the bloody aura within the white mist entered the Human Book.
When the soul-ferrying ritual was complete, the Human Book returned to Zhu Yanyi’s body. She quickly stamped her hands together, then closed her eyes slightly. At this moment, everyone saw the cinnabar mole on Zhu Yanyi’s forehead transform into a lotus flower. The lotus emerged from her forehead, turning into countless small lotuses that rotated in the mid-air.
As they rotated, lotus petals drifted down one by one. With the falling petals, a fresh aura emerged.
"Spiritual energy!" Hei Ru was startled in his heart. He never imagined someone in the world could directly bless and grant fortune. What kind of ability was this?
This blessing lasted for about half an hour. Then, the many small lotuses merged back into one large lotus, which returned to Zhu Yanyi’s forehead. It slowly gathered, transforming back into a cinnabar mole.
"Senior Brother, is Little Fifteen really human?" Jian Feiyan, seeing this, didn’t know what to say. She could only ask Yi Yunfei beside her in a daze.
Yi Yunfei shook her head slightly. "I don’t know. But since Little Fifteen is the fiancée of the Venerable Yanluo, it is absolutely impossible to view her with mortal eyes."
Sikong Xuran saw this and said, "I never expected our junior sister to have such a skill."
"Lotus Blessing. It is actually the Lotus Blessing." The Elf Queen’s eyes were full of surprise. She knew this was the big surprise Zhu Yanyi had promised her earlier.
She had never imagined what this big surprise would be. Undeniably, it was a very large surprise for her. She had never thought Zhu Yanyi would possess the Lotus Blessing.
Although the lotus is the Buddhist flower, the Elf Queen knew that beings who worship light also loved and believed in the lotus. This was because the lotus rises from the mud yet remains unstained; it is a flower of holy purity that desires nothing but cleanliness.
With the affirmation of this holy flower, no one would ever doubt the origin of their Light Forest again. They were recognized by the God of Light.
Zhu Yanyi opened her eyes and looked at the distance. She had just ferried the souls of the beings in the Lucky Forest. Now, there were still some beings from the Dark Forest. After a moment of contemplation, she pinched her fingers, and a flower resembling a red spider lily appeared. She threw it gently to the ground, and countless black shadows rushed toward the red spider lily.
"The Soul-Guiding Flower?" Hei Ru murmured.
Zhu Yanyi looked at Hei Ru. "The souls in the Human Book can enter the Yellow Springs, but that is for unjustly killed yet righteous spirits.
The war was caused by you, so the Human Book naturally cannot ferry the unjustly killed spirits from your side. Therefore, I give you this flower for the dark souls, allowing them to return smoothly to the Underworld.
I ferried the war souls of the Lucky Forest because they were true warriors. The lotus is a holy flower. I used the Lotus Blessing to grant a blessing to the Light Forest, allowing it to stand tall and return once more.
You can tell your master of the Dark Forest these words. As for the eighty percent of Dark Forest souls who died here, I will not leave them behind. Using the Soul-Guiding Flower, I will let their souls return to the Yellow Springs. I only hope this will make you understand one thing: what you do does not represent the dark element."
"Why can it not represent it?" Hei Ru looked at Zhu Yanyi in confusion. "We came from the Dark Forest. We grew up in the Dark Forest since childhood. Why can we not represent it?"
"Your understanding is flawed. According to your logic, if growing up in the Dark Forest allows one to represent darkness,
then if an infant with a dark constitution grows up in the Light Forest, they would represent light.
If a beggar grows up in the royal family, they would represent the royalty.
These are irrational understandings. Light and darkness have no specific definitions; they are merely elements. Even if you cultivate the dark element, you cannot represent darkness," Zhu Yanyi said, looking at Hei Ru.
"I do not know why you think this way. Go tell the person in charge of your Dark Forest. In the past, the Light Forest was always the one at a disadvantage. To maintain the coexistence of the light and dark elements, the Light Forest took a step back and changed its name to the Lucky Forest. Now, it can finally restore the name Light Forest."