There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

Maevelyn flapped her wings and slowly landed on the canopy of the sacred tree, where Lu Qing saw Maevelyn's home.

It was very simple, completely different from what Lu Qing had imagined. In fact, because of the withering of the sacred tree, there was a faint smell of decay in the air. Even so, as Maeveline looked at the familiar little nest in front of her, a few tears slowly welled up in her eyes.

There's no place like home, especially not this sacred tree, the place where Maevelyn was born.

"This tree hollow was dug out by the elves, long before the elven sacrificial site was even created." The spirit floated beside Lu Qing and explained to her, "When the sacred tree was first born, it was already severely polluted."

"The hollowed-out parts here are actually the parts of the Sacred Tree that were corrupted and rotted by the power of the void. The elves hollowed this out and then came to the core of the Sacred Tree..."

"Wasn't Oo the first Pokémon to be born?" Lu Qing noticed something and asked with some confusion.

"At that time, hundreds of elves were born from the sacred tree at the same time, and O was the first one to be born." This time it was Maevelyn who answered her.

“I thought that O and the later elves weren’t born in the same batch…” Hearing Maevelyn’s words, Lu Qing was a little surprised and puzzled. She looked at Maevelyn and asked curiously, “How did you know that?”

“My grandmother told me this,” Maevelyn said after hearing Lu Qing’s words. “My grandmother was born in the same era as Bolton, and she knows a lot about things from long ago.”

"However, there shouldn't be a path leading to the core of the Sacred Tree here. I've lived here for over five thousand years since I was born, and I've never known that this place leads to the interior of the Sacred Tree."

“Of course you don’t know, because only elves can find this entrance, and only elves can enter it.” Upon hearing Maevelyn’s words, the spirit in the air shimmered slightly.

As Ling spoke, she came to a corner of the tree hole. After infusing it with spiritual power, an entrance no bigger than a small dog appeared in front of Lu Qing and Maeveline.

“In a sense, only elves can go in,” Lu Qing said with a rather subtle expression.

"Elves are not very big to begin with, and you humans wouldn't build a house door that is far larger than your own body size, would you?"

"Alright, alright, let's go in quickly!" Ling said excitedly.

Hearing Ling's words, Lu Qing had no choice but to use her elf transformation ability to enter the room marked "only elves can enter".

Inside the pitch-black tunnel, apart from the light emanating from the spirit's body, there was no other light source to be seen. Fortunately, Lu Qing didn't need this thing, so she didn't feel hesitant or timid as she walked.

"thump......."

"Hmm?" Lu Qing paused, then looked at Ling and asked, "Ling, did you hear any strange noises?"

"Strange sound... Oh, don't scare me at a time like this!" the spirit said, its light flickering.

"I'm not kidding you, there really is a sound, listen carefully..." Lu Qing said with a helpless expression.

"Ew~ This feels even scarier..." Ling seemed a little flustered as she swayed in the air, then carefully searched for the sound Lu Qing had mentioned. After a while, she said with considerable surprise:

"There really is a sound!"

"It was very, very soft, sounding like a heartbeat."

------------

Chapter 560: The Core of Pollution

"I think the sound is quite loud," Lu Qing thought to herself after hearing Ling's words.

This is probably because of her "Listener" skill, which greatly enhances her hearing and also gives her a certain probability of hearing things that others cannot.

Well, the latter one is a side effect, and it's the kind that can't be eliminated. Lu Qing doesn't know the exact probability, but she's been using it for so long and has never encountered that kind of unlucky situation.

Or perhaps, it's simply because there's nothing around her that she can hear?

Lu Qing was worried that the heartbeat she heard might be the kind that only she could hear, but when she heard Ling say that she could hear it too, Lu Qing felt much more at ease.

"Thump... thump..."

The heartbeat continued, and as Lu Qing and Ling went deeper, the sound became clearer and clearer.

"Can such a sound emanate from the core of the Sacred Tree?" Lu Qing asked, somewhat puzzled.

"No, no, this is definitely not the sound coming from the core of the Sacred Tree." For some reason, Ling said with absolute certainty.

"In short, stay alert." Lu Qing's muscles were tense, ready to deal with any unexpected situation at any time.

She and Ling continued walking into the interior of the sacred tree, and soon they saw an object that continuously emitted a heartbeat.

It was a huge, fleshy tumor with a dark purple glow on its surface. It tightly covered the core of the sacred tree, and the outermost flesh was constantly squeezing and writhing, leaving behind a large amount of dark purple, putrid liquid.

"This disgusting stuff is actually spread throughout the core of the Sacred Tree?" Lu Qing couldn't help but show a look of disgust on her face.

There was no way around it; the scene before them was simply too disgusting. The dark red fleshy tentacles covering the walls of the Sacred Tree's core were connected to the tumors on the core, seemingly providing it with a continuous source of energy.

"What should I do?" Lu Qing asked Ling, enduring the foul stench in the air.

"Let's retreat first!" Ling said, surprising everyone.

Lu Qing: "???"

Having finally arrived at their destination, why were they already retreating without having done anything? Lu Qing looked at Ling, waiting for her explanation.

"The core of the Sacred Tree is still alive; I can confirm that," Ling said, looking at the core enveloped in flesh and blood.

"But the sacred tree is too polluted. It is impossible for me to clean the sacred tree by myself."

"We need to increase the sacred tree's self-regulating capabilities."

"The ability to self-regulate... is it to restore those polluted elements?" Lu Qing asked softly, as if she had just thought of something.

“That’s right, we have restored the wind element. Next, we only need to restore the water, earth, and fire elements to greatly improve the Holy Tree’s self-regulation ability.”

"At that time, we can cut off the tentacles here, and I can then focus on the treatment."

“As for now, there’s nothing we can do…” Ling lowered her voice slightly and said, “I sensed an evil aura dormant inside that fleshy tumor.”

"The Archbishop Angus is devouring the power of the Sacred Tree's core; the tentacles extending down the walls, and that tumor, are all his body."

"He is currently extracting all the power from the core of the sacred tree, and his perception of the outside world is very weak. But once we destroy those tentacles, he will definitely wake up."

"In short, we can't beat him, so let's retreat first," Ling concluded.

"......"

"That's a good summary. Don't summarize next time." With that thought in mind, Lu Qing followed her heart and withdrew from the core of the Sacred Tree.

She had personally experienced how powerful Archbishop Angus was. With her current strength, fighting him one-on-one would be suicidal. It was better to retreat first and talk about it later.

"You're back so soon. How is it? Is there any hope for the Sacred Tree?" Maevelyn asked hurriedly after seeing Lu Qing and Ling emerge from the tunnel.

Fifty years have passed. The sacred tree has withered for fifty long years. Maevelyn once sank into despair, and after losing her ability to fly, she contemplated suicide many times. But thankfully, she endured it all. It is precisely because she endured it that she has the opportunity to fly again today, and...

The hope of healing the sacred tree.

Lu Qing shook her head and told Maeveline about the situation inside the core of the Sacred Tree.

"How could this be..." Maevelyn said with disappointment after hearing Lu Qing's words. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Perhaps that's how it is.

However, Maevelyn quickly composed herself and said, "At least I'm happy to know that the Sacred Tree can still be saved."

"But after leaving this time, have you thought about what method you will use to come up next time?" Maevelyn asked with some concern.

The wind element in Storm Valley won't always be this abundant. Once the wind element that has accumulated over a decade is exhausted, Storm Valley will return to its normal state, and Maeveline will no longer be able to take off using the strong winds there.

"......"

"There will always be a way." After a moment of silence, Lu Qing smiled at Maeveline and comforted her.

"There's still a long time; there'll always be a way!" Ling said, her body gleaming with an inexplicable air of authority.

"I hope so..."

Maeveline flapped her wings, carrying Lu Qing and Ling towards Fanling Lake. Since the goal was to eliminate all elemental pollution, Fanling Lake, being the closest lake, was the obvious first choice.

and.......

When Lu Qing thought of Fang Qingrou and Mu Er being frozen in the deepest part of Fanling Lake, she couldn't help but feel guilty.

If it weren't for her mental strength breaking through fifty points, the difficulty of the dream world wouldn't have suddenly increased so much, and Fang Qingrou and Muir wouldn't have been frozen in the depths of Fanling Lake.

However, Lu Qing wasn't too worried about their safety, mainly because it was mentioned in the [Blue Game Manual] given to her by the system after she advanced to the blue rank.

The instruction manual mainly explained some things to be aware of after reaching the blue level, such as dying in a dream will result in real death, game items can be brought into the real world, and the contents of the manual should not be revealed in the real world, etc.

I heard that revealing the above information would be punished, but the Dream Hunter organization seems to possess some special items and has some cooperation with the Dream Game, so they are able to leak some information.

In addition to the above, Lu Qing's instruction manual also provides a detailed description of the conditions of Fang Qingrou, Mu Er, and Hao Meng.

Because they did not advance to the blue rank, even if they died in this dream, it would not have any impact on their reality.

In addition, since this incident was considered a game bug, the system will compensate the three players by giving them Dream Coins, item cards, and other items. Furthermore, they will not be penalized even if they fail in this dream.

As for Lu Qing, the culprit who created the bug, the system did not punish her. Instead, it directly jumped her level to 15 and gave her the corresponding attribute points, which she was already very satisfied with.

------------

Chapter 561: Underwater Breathing and Underwater Sprint

"Wow~"

Maevelyn spread her wings and glided with Lu Qing and Ling from the top of the sacred tree toward Fanling Lake.

Bolton heard Maevelyn's voice from afar, so he quickly emerged from the river and looked up at Maevelyn flying in from the horizon.

After she landed beside him with Lu Qing and Ling, Bolton immediately asked, "How is the Sacred Tree?"

“There’s still hope,” Maevelyn said after landing on the ground and hearing Bolton’s question.

"So you mean there's still hope, but it's not cured yet?" Bolton said, his expression seemingly unchanged, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

After a pause, Bolton asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Lu Qing glanced at Ling, then walked up to Bolton and recounted what they had seen and heard at the core of the Sacred Tree.

"......"

After listening to Lu Qing's words, Bolton pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "I understand."

"I will help you just as I helped those two girls fifty years ago."

Bolton had barely finished speaking when, before Lu Qing could say anything, the world before her eyes paused again, and a familiar skill panel appeared before her.

It's still the same panel as when I learned skills from Ling, but now there are two brand new skills on it.

Underwater Breathing (Blue)

[Using spiritual energy to simulate the breathing organs of fish underwater, it can absorb oxygen from liquids to sustain its body's needs.]

[Unlocked with 100 Magic Essence.]