Aelia, the elven queen exiled to the cultivation world, found the perfect sapling for a Tree of Life. But just as she began the transformation spell, someone grabbed her by the throat.
Burdened with the great task of restoring the elven race, she had to put up a fight!
In an instant, arcane magic and forbidden spells burst forth, vines dancing with starlight.
The Demon Venerable Cangming grabbed the suspicious intruder who'd been scribbling all over his true form, casually dispelled every spell, and left only the writhing thorn vine.
Aelia was stunned. She'd really only been trying to put up a fight!
Just as she closed her eyes and waited to die, a deep voice came from above her: "How do you plant this?"
Aelia looked out over the demon realm, a barren wasteland stretching for thousands of miles, and instantly perked up. On the spot, she drafted A Feasibility Report on Ecological Restoration in the Demon Realm and slapped it against his chest. "Sir! Your land is suffering from severe desertification. Hire me, and I guarantee we'll have over 90% vegetation cover within three years!"
Cangming studied the report in silence for a long while.
And so the elven queen became the demon realm's chief greening officer. By day, she led the demons in infrastructure projects; by night, she secretly helped the ancient tree get ready to conceive.
When the demon realm had become the cultivation world's shining pearl beyond the frontier, and the demons were all chanting, "Long live the Demon Empress!" as they looked at the elven plants stretching across the mountains, the natural-energy armor worn by his generals, and the Tree of Life embroidered on his robes, Cangming finally realized:
He, supreme ruler of the demon realm, the strongest fighter in the cultivation world, and once the demon realm's sole remaining native, had been! mar! ried!
Theme: Protect the environment
