Chapter 87

A giant tree towered over the landscape, its canopy stretching for miles, almost covering the entire mountain. In front of the giant tree was a small pond, clear to the bottom.

In front of the tree trunk, which was a hundred feet in diameter, stood a stone platform, clearly hewn by human hands. It was evident that it was a sacrificial altar built by the village ancestors.

Looking at the giant tree, Long Chen felt a powerful life force and an overwhelming natural energy, as if the tree contained the will of the entire natural world, which was truly awe-inspiring.

"Is this your forest god?" Long Chen asked.

"Yes, this is our tree god. You should pay your respects to the tree god with me; it is the one who saved your life," Xiao Hua said, then knelt down devoutly and began to bow.

Long Chen looked at the giant tree, which had saved him. If he had not had the medicinal pills to supply him while he was unconscious, he would have died from the gradual depletion of his energy. Paying respects to his savior seemed reasonable.

Just as Long Chen was about to kneel, a gentle voice came, making him feel as if he were basking in a warm spring breeze.

"You don't need to do this; I cannot bear it."

Suddenly, a figure appeared on the altar. It was a woman, dressed in white, with black hair cascading down to her waist, giving her an ethereal, almost divine appearance. However, her face was blurry, making it impossible to see clearly.

"Forest God."

Xiao Hua, who was kneeling on the ground, looked at the woman in shock. She had heard the forest god's voice before but had never seen it manifest.

Not only her, but the entire village, which had been around for hundreds of years, had never seen the forest god manifest.

But as soon as Long Chen arrived, the forest god appeared without him even kneeling, and even said it could not bear his bow. Xiao Hua was confused; even a god could not bear Long Chen's bow?

Long Chen looked at the figure, his heart filled with shock. He knew that the figure was not a human but a soul projection.

It was only possible for a soul to reach such an extreme level of power. Long Chen was confident in his own soul strength, but compared to the forest god, it was like a stream compared to the vast ocean. For the first time, he felt his own insignificance.

"Are you the forest god?" Long Chen asked tentatively.

The woman smiled slightly but did not answer Long Chen. She glanced at Xiao Hua, who was kneeling on the ground, and said softly, "You should rest for a while."

Xiao Hua immediately lay on the ground, breathing evenly, and fell into a deep sleep.

Long Chen was startled. What a powerful technique, to hypnotize someone with just a thought, without even using soul strength.

Seeing Xiao Hua asleep, the woman then said to Long Chen, "Our conversation is not suitable for her to hear, so I had to put her to sleep.

"I am not a god; that is just what they call me. In fact, I do not belong to this world."

"Not belong to this world?" Long Chen was greatly surprised.

"I come from a distant spirit realm, which is still very far from you. However, I know that with your talent, it won't be long before you learn about it," the woman said.

The woman's words shook Long Chen's heart. He knew the forest god was terrifying, but after mentioning the spirit realm, she fell silent, clearly not wanting to say more.

The spirit realm was a foreign term to Long Chen, but hearing it, he had a sense of familiarity, a mysterious feeling.

Seeing that the woman was unwilling to continue, Long Chen did not press further. He bowed and said, "I will forever remember your life-saving grace."

"You are too polite. You don't need to thank me. You should thank the villagers. According to our agreement, I must fulfill their needs.

"Similarly, I must receive my due in return. This is the agreement, and you don't need to thank me," the woman shook her head and said.

"May I ask why you made an agreement with ordinary people?" Long Chen asked.

This was a question that had been on his mind for a long time. It was like an elephant making an agreement with a group of ants, which did not make sense.

The woman was silent for a moment before saying, "Because I need their help."

"Their help?" Long Chen was puzzled. A being so powerful, how could it need the help of mere mortals?

"I said I do not belong to this world. I was swept here by a spatial rift created during a war. I should have died.

"Although I survived by chance, my body was severely injured. After a long period of recovery, my body is gradually healing.

"However, to return to my world, I need to perform a blood sacrifice, accumulating enough life force to open a spatial channel and return to my original world.

"You might wonder why I don't hunt and kill creatures myself but rely on them," the woman said.

Long Chen nodded. This was indeed what he did not understand. It seemed completely unnecessary.

"That is because our spirit race has its own constraints. We cannot kill life for our own needs, so we cannot kill with our own hands."

"Why is that?"

"This is related to the secret techniques of our spirit race. If we kill creatures and absorb their life force, we also absorb their resentment, which is a poison we cannot cure," the woman in white explained.

Although Long Chen found the woman's words somewhat confusing, he could sense that she was not lying.

From the pure life force emanating from her, he seemed to understand something, and he began to understand why she had cooperated with Xiao Hua's ancestors.

"You are a limitless strong person. This time, not only did I repair your meridians, but I also widened them and increased their resilience using my own essence. So, your medical fee was a bit higher," the woman in white said.

Long Chen was surprised. After waking up, he had felt some changes in his body, but he had not noticed the specifics.

Now, after the woman in white mentioned it, he quickly examined himself and was overjoyed to find that his meridians had been widened by more than half.

Most importantly, his meridians, which were originally like glass tubes, had become elastic, allowing them to withstand greater spiritual energy without bursting.

This was a tremendous surprise. If he had faced Ying Hou now, his meridians would not have cracked, and he would have been able to kill Ying Hou.

"Thank you very much," Long Chen said sincerely, recalling his initial anger when he heard about the sacrifice, feeling a bit ashamed.

He had judged her with a small-minded heart. This time, he had received a great favor, and he was filled with gratitude.

The woman in white shook her head and said, "We of the spirit race only keep our promises, so you don't need to thank me."

Long Chen smiled and said, "I have a question. What if I healed and just left without fulfilling my part?"

The woman's body moved slightly, as if she were smiling, and she shook her head. "You won't. We of the spirit race are very sensitive to others' intentions. If you were evil, I would have sensed it immediately and would not have healed you.

"Even if you left, someone else would complete the task for you. However, if you really left, I would forgive the previous debt, and the previous agreement would be nullified."

"Wouldn't you be at a loss then?" Long Chen smiled.

"Perhaps, but it doesn't matter. This is the rule of our spirit race. Every agreement is based on us paying first," the woman in white said.

"Like the ancestors of the village?" Long Chen suddenly remembered the story Xiao Hua had told.

"Yes, it's our habit."

This habit was good, but in a world like the imperial capital, she would surely suffer a great loss, Long Chen thought.

It was a gesture of sincerity, a heart-to-heart agreement, more effective than any written contract. The most solid agreement is a mental one.

Unconsciously, Long Chen developed deep respect for the woman from the spirit realm, a pure and uncorrupted heart.

"By the way, how much monster flesh do you need?" Long Chen asked, then took out the corpse of the berserk bear and threw it on the ground.

Suddenly, countless roots sprouted from the ground, piercing the berserk bear's body. In less than a breath, the berserk bear was completely drained, even its bones disappeared, leaving only some fur.

After absorbing the berserk bear's body, Long Chen felt that the giant tree's vitality had become even stronger, and its leaves seemed more vibrant.

"To heal you, I injured my essence. I need ten first-stage monsters and one second-stage monster to recover my essence," the woman replied.

"Then you won't gain anything?" Long Chen was somewhat surprised.

The woman in white said calmly, "As I said before, every agreement is based on us paying first."

"I understand. However, I, Long Chen, do not like owing others. I will remember this great favor," Long Chen nodded.

Long Chen did not like owing favors. He would repay those who helped him tenfold, like the Fat Man and others, who had only provided some gold coins at first, but he always remembered their kindness.

Now that his meridians had been widened, it would benefit his future cultivation and combat skills immensely, a tremendous favor.

After understanding the forest god's situation, Long Chen gently woke Xiao Hua and left the tree god's area, returning to the village.

Upon returning to the village, Xiao Hua danced around, showing everyone the wild boar she had hunted, and told them about Long Chen easily slaying the berserk bear and the forest god's manifestation, which left everyone wide-eyed.

What shocked them the most was the forest god's manifestation. After hearing the story, the entire village knelt and bowed in the direction of the forest god.

Because of Long Chen's agreement with the forest god, the villagers' debt was forgiven, and that night, everyone feasted on wild boar meat.

After the celebration, Xiao Hua began to show everyone the spatial ring and distributed the weapons inside, causing the entire village to be in a state of extreme excitement.

After dinner, Long Chen disappeared into the night alone, as he had something important to do.